Friday, July 08, 2011

Security experts unsure about Google Chrome OS Flash implementation

Security research firms are digging into Google's Chrome OS to see how secure it will be for future users. Chrome OS is designed to allow all system applications to run remotely via the Internet. The only issue with that approach is that users will have to rely on Google to ensure their system is secure.

Google has claimed that Chrome is air-tight from a security perspective, but Kaspersky Labs has found that Google is using an old version of Adobe Flash in Chrome OS, which could have security implications due to older versions of Flash having security flaws.

Chrome OS is a vastly different approach to an operating system, but with that approach comes a new approach to security. Instead of users deciding which software to install or update on their system, Chrome OS only rus software within the Chrome browser. This means Google is responsible for updates and add-ons, and not the user.

The shift of burden from the user to Google for security has plenty of potentially positive implications, but it means that Google is going to have to keep up – and update software like Flash.